A mum is using her maternity leave to travel the world with her family for the second time, and we’re every bit as jealous as we were before.
Karen Edwards, 32, who is a full-time nurse in London and blogs at Travel Mad Mum, documented her travelling journey with her first child Esmé in 2016.
Edwards and her husband, Shaun Bayes, revealed in February 2017 they would be doing the same when their second child was born.
And, true to their word, the couple has been sharing travelling photos as a family of four, with their new addition Quinn who is now four months old.
“I am a nurse in the UK and I am very lucky to be allowed to take a year off work,” Edwards recently wrote on Instagram explaining her decision.
“It’s not all paid, but quite a lot of it is. We rented our house out when Quinn was nine weeks old. This time is different, especially with three-year-old Esmé.”
Since Quinn was born, the couple has travelled from Calgary to Vancouver in Canada and road tripped the entire west coast of the USA.
“We’ve since been exploring Central America and arrived in El Salvador this morning,” Edwards wrote on 3 November. “So as you can see, we’ve come a long way from when I had Esmé!
“It is amazing and I wouldn’t change it for the world, but we have bad days too [including] messed up travel schedules, missed buses, lost luggage, crazy toddler tantrums and a sick baby in the back arse of nowhere.
“It’s totally worth it for the endless family time we have together and as a second-time mum, I’m very grateful to have @travelmaddad [her partner] around every day.”
Edwards often gets asked how her family are able to travel so often.
Writing on her account she explained: “We are not rich. Like I mentioned I’m a nurse and my hubby is a builder.
“I like to think we are savvy travellers. First time around we did it all out of our own pocket. This time is a little different since we have a successful blog, many hotels like us to write a review for them. That is more than we could ever have dreamed of.
“I hope we can inspire you to travel deeper with your kids.”
Previously speaking to HuffPost UK, Edwards said travelling the world after becoming a mum for the first time helped her to adjust to parenthood.
“It was easy to become a parent abroad,” Edwards said at the time.
“We had two parents looking after one baby the whole year and I think if I was to sit at home it would’ve been incredibly lonely.
“I was distracted and I always had help - life didn’t change drastically for me.”
Edwards said she often gets emails from parents who say they have been inspired by her travels.
“People realised it was a possibility,” Edwards explained. “It’s the norm that you stay at home during maternity leave but it doesn’t have to be that way.
“I think people are slowly realising that.”
Follow Edwards’ travelling posts, featuring advice and guidance of being on the go with little ones, here.
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